If you’re a fan of It Follows (2014) or Talk to Me (2022), you might want to check out a new horror movie that’s hitting theaters this weekend called Leviticus. Basically, this movie takes conversion therapy (a real-life horror) and turns it into a supernatural nightmare.
Written and directed by Adrian Chiarella Leviticus follows Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen), two teenage boys in the earlier days of a summer fling. Unfortunately, the small Christian community that they live in can’t handle the thought of a gay couple in their own ranks, so they bring in a mysterious priest from out of town to perform a ritual on the boys with the promise that they will no longer lead a life of sin. Spoiler Alert: it’s because they’re cursed now! After a doomed visit from the voodoo vicar the boys are marked and followed by a supernatural entity that threatens to rip them apart (literally) if they dare steal a kiss somewhere private.
“…has a really interesting concept, and some clever twists on supernatural stories that have shocked us all…”
Like It Follows, the monster also appears invisible to everyone around them, so it almost looks like they’re interacting with a ghost when the entity sneaks its way into their lives. And to add insult to very real injury, this demon(?) hunting them down, appears to each of them as the other. In other words, they think that they’re sneaking away with their boyfriend but it’s actually a monster that’s going to strangle them and kill them in front of their family.
The film has a really interesting concept, and some clever twists on supernatural stories that have shocked us all, but sadly, it doesn’t quite reach the levels of the movies it can be directly compared to. If you liked how ruthlessly brutal or how unrelentingly scary a movie like Talk To Me was, Leviticus might be a little bit more low-key for you. I know it was for me. And I’m not generally a stickler for rules, but I also had a lot of questions about how the monster worked which left me unsure if the movie was violating its own logic mid-scare sequences.
Regardless, it’s Pride Month so if you want to go see a queer horror movie in the theater movie, now’s the opportunity. Go check out Leviticus, and share you thoughts on the film with us in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord. Social Media sucks now. Come hang where all the cool creeps are.
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